Reasons I'm worried about next season.

[Snowball]

Judging the league form under SC is a bit daft when it's damn clear that we prioritised the cup.

We threw Huddersfield and Watford

After Adkins had us slaughtered 6-1 at Birmingham, we were a relegation side in waiting. SC came in a few days later and you could see immediately the SC effect when we unluckily lost 0-1 to Watford, a VERY good side. Personally, I lay that defeat at Adkins, door, not SC's, or you take it out as not down to one manager (but to expect SC to turn round a horrendously under-par, demoralised side in two days is plain stupidity.

THEN LOOK

2-2 Brighton away (leading until the last few minutes)
2-1 Norwich home
1-0 Huddersfield (Cup) classic negative away team who pinch a goal
0-0 Middlesborough home
1-2 Fulham away We played really well, should have won comfortably, suckered by a late goal
2-1 Cardiff away (cup)
0-0 Millwall (away) where we did everything but score
2-1 Wolves (away)

4 wins 3 draws and a last minute defeat, 10-7, and that's in the six weeks following the 6-1 hammering and 0-1.

That's the mark of a magician!

Now extend that just a little (including two home losses)

0-2 Leeds Home
2-1 Derby away (Cup)
0-1 Wigan home
1-0 Ipswich away

So in his first 12 games Clarke was up against 6 of the top 8 W4, D1 L1 7-4

or

in 11 games (excluding Watford) he played 5 of the top 8, W4, D1 L0 7-3

1 Watford 0-1
3 Middlesborough 0-0
4 Norwich 2-1
5 Derby 2-1
6 Ipswich 1-0
8 Wolves 2-1

You'd have to be a brain-dead numpty from East Anglia not to see what Clarke was capable of, so why did it "go wrong"?

IMO it didn't.

SC had Bradford on his mind and sent a seriously weakened side to Huddersfield which included Kelly, Akpan, Taylor, GUTHRIE, Yakubu.

It was obvious he was prepared to lose the game, but in fact we had 59% possession and 9 shots. We all knew that the Bradford game was the biggest thing on the club's mind, and there were threads already on "Would you take Wembley with relegation?"

We lost that mainly because their strikers took their chances and we missed all of ours.

Remember the next game, home to Norwich? We were beaten by two "worldies" and a good striker's goal (just one of those games). We had 58% possession and 11 shots to their 12. The difference AGAIN was they took their chances, we didn't.

Bradford loomed ever-closer but now we had had two defeats... But then we went away to Bolton (who had been excellent at home) had 48% possession, 14 shots (but just two on target) but got the draw (again coming from behind)

Then we got the vital 0-0 at Bradford.

The rest is history (exactly what we expected)... the cup was everything and we were 99% certain to stay up, especially as we beat the biggest team in the division (Brighton) 2-1

Now seriously LOOK at the team we sent to Watford.

Reading: Andersen, Keown, Travner, Cooper, Knight (Novakovich 86), Guthrie, Akpan, Taylor (Karacan 61), Stacey, Cox (c) (Blackman 61), Yakubu. Subs: Lincoln, Long, Kuhl, Edwards.

That is a team almost bad enough to get us fined. How can anyone seriously think that defeat, or the one at Huddersfield is statistically relevant? Please!

Then we got the 3-0 win v Bradford

All I can see is that the manager proved what he was capable of, beating four teams from the top 8, then he rested players and masterminded a safe 0-0 at a very dangerous ground before achieving a 3-0 home win and our first ever wembley FA Cup Semi-Final


And, let's be utterly fair, we played a side which had won 23 out of its last 28 games (now 24/29) with a 43 million pound World Cup-winning midfielder, and we were tactically SUPERB, drawing 1-1 at 90 minutes when everyone on this list thought 0-3 would be honourable.

Steve Clarke is a VERY good manager. He has done more or less exactly what we wanted. He has shown us that away from home he knows how to win. He has shown serious tactical nous. He has used his connections to bring in two players who are better than anything in the current squad, and is forging relationships with Premiership clubs which augur well for the future.

[Ian Royal]

How's our away form been since you predicted good things snowball?

Since Ipswich it's P5 W0, D2, L3 isn't it? less than 0. 5 points a game. What were your predictions again?

[genome]

I think my brain is dribbling from my ears.

[Snowball]

How's our away form been since you predicted good things snowball?

Since Ipswich it's P5 W0, D2, L3 isn't it? less than 0. 5 points a game. What were your predictions again?

Did I make predictions about the games following Ipswich?

I DID say "If we avoid relegation and get to Wembley, Clarke will have done a brilliant job."


Look, i know you're a tedious moron, but get your palm tree out of your
butt and try looking at the teams we actually put out for some of those defeats.

Quite clearly, anyone making predictions based on how our first eleven played
would be presuming the first eleven would CONTINUE to play... or is that too hard for you?

[AthleticoSpizz]

Nothing Reading FC, nor anything football "worries" me.

Poor use of the word " worried " tbh.

[Snowball]

February 28th (before we had played away to Bradford)

How are those cup wins translating into league form for you at the moment? I believe it's two losses and a win since that drivel isn't it? 1ppg, worse than the 1.3ppg our league form at the time showed and certainly not the 1.75ppg you'd have us believe our form actually was.

No drivel here (apart from every time you post)

I have never said anything about the cup games translating into league form.

I DID say, finishing 4th-bottom and getting to Wembley would be excellent and a good season..

Finishing 4th-bottom and getting to the final, would be an historic achievement and a brilliant season.

WIN it, and even going down would be OK, but we won't go down, we won't even be fourth bottom.

How's your radio?

[ladida_gunner_graham]

Nothing Reading FC, nor anything football "worries" me. Poor use of the word " worried " tbh.

noun

worry - the state of being anxious and troubled over actual or potential problems

Unless you're think of sheep worrying, seems fairly appropriate to me. Were you thinking about sheep again?

[AthleticoSpizz]

Wtaf are you crapping on about?

Good entry level attempt at getting onside with the clique btw

Now f11ck off

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Managers can, and often do, make a big difference when they take over mid season. Pardew at Palace. Pullis at Palace. Rowett at Birmingham. McDermott at Reading. With little significant change in playing personnel, these are just a few examples of the manager having a major and pretty much immediate impact.

So it can be done, and Clarke has not done it here. It’s not to say he won’t have a spectacular closed season and Reading will come back and storm the division – just that there’s no indication of that. Yet.

So either he’s not all that, or the problem is more than who the manager is. I strongly suspect it to be combination of the two. Maybe he’ll be able to galvanise new recruits and neutralise whatever negative elements there are in the current squad. But he for sure hasn’t done it yet.

Personally, I’d be happy to see a season of progress and more of our home-grown players getting regular starting slots. I don’t want to see shipped-in loanees and Reading effectively “buying” their way into play off or promotion contention, although a few prospective world class players from the second string of the top four would be welcome (Ryan Bertrand being the perfect example of how to boost a squad using loans, rather than the wholesale filling of a team with Champions league apprentices).

From my perspective, some people are saying Adkins was cr@p and Clarke is much better: too early to tell. So with no real tangible signs things are improving I am worried about next season.

[Snowball]

Ian's stats are a bit dumb as they gloss over the fact that we put out weak sides
once we realised we were in with a chance of Wembley. He also includes the
Watford 0-1 which was 2/3 days after SC arrived..

So, our defeats include Watford, a game that took place a couple of days after SC arrived,
Huddersfield when we played a near-reserve side, and Watford when we selected a joke team

and then Arsenal, 2nd in the Premiership and 23 wins from 28, who we drew with over 90 minutes)

Adkins had three cup games, beat L2 Newport, L1 Scunthorpe, lost to Derby

Clarke had six cup games beat Championship sides Cardiff, Huddersfield, Derby, drew at L1 Bradford
and then beat them 3-0, then went 104 minutes toe-toe with Arsenal before losing 1-2 to an individual error..

Clarke's FA Cup run absolutely blows Adkins out of the water.

Below are the two managers' full records, ATM including Watford (2 days in) and the two games we threw

24 9-4-11 30-39 -09 Adkins
28 9-8-11 27-33 -06 Clarke


Take out the two joke sides (Huddersfield and Watford away) and you get


24 9-4-11 30-39 -09 Adkins
26 9-8-09 26-26 -00 Clarke

and that is leaving the Watford 0-1 in, which IMO should NOT be in the figures


and Adkins had Glen Murray here for 17 games (15 played)
while Clarke had him for just three games

[Snowball]

The figures came from here

P21 07-04-10 26-36 -10 Adkins League
P03 02-00-01 04-03 +01 Adkins Cup
P24 09-04-11 30-39 -09 Adkins all Games

“31 Points from 24” = 1.29 ppg”



P20 05-07-10 18-29 -11 Clarke League
P06 04-01-01 09-04 +05 Clarke Cup
P28 09-08-11 27-33 -06 Clarke all games

“35 Points from 28” = 1.25 ppg"



P22 05-07-08 17-22 -05 Clarke League *
P06 04-01-01 09-04 +05 Clarke Cup
P26 09-08-09 26-26 -06 Clarke all games

“35 Points from 26” = “1.35”

*(without Huddersfield and Watford away)




P21 05-07-07 17-21 -04 Clarke League **
P06 04-01-01 09-04 +05 Clarke Cup
P25 09-08-08 26-25 +1 Clarke all games

“35 Points from 25” = “1.4 ppg"

as above, without Watford at home.

[Lacoste]

I don't tend to think of myself as negative about Reading FC. Whilst I have lost patience with some managers quite drastically, I'm virtually always positive about the future of the club and I believe strongly in giving someone time to build. Not that I won't call for someone's head if I think there's a risk of a Bad Things™ happening in the short-term.

But this year, for the first time in 20 years, I think the next season is going to be bad. I'm not looking forward to it and here's why.

In virtually every significant measure I can think of Steve Clarke's performance is worse than his predecessor.

Points per game: -------------1.00 vs 1.19
Win Ratio: ------------------------23% vs 33% (32% vs 38% including cup games)
Loss Ratio: ------------------------45% vs 48%
Clean Sheets: --------------------1 every 4.4 games vs 1 every 3 games
Scoring Nil: -----------------------1 every 2.2 games vs 1 every 3 games
Goals scored per game:------0.82 vs 1.24
Goals conceded per game:--1.32 vs 1.71

Giving Clarke 5 games grace after taking over, and ignoring the table before 10 games have been played, we've averaged 17th position under him, compared to 14th under his predecessor.

So we win less, we earn fewer points, we keep fewer clean sheets, we score less, and we score nil more often. But we concede less and we lose ever so fractionally less. Forgive me for not being enthused.

Our inadequacies have been painfully obvious this season. We don't have a goalscorer. We're woefully short of both quality and options on the left flank. We can't centre the ball accurately or dangerously. And we don't get bodies in the box from midfield (even the strikers aren't in there that often!).

Clarke's answer to this and the loss of Murray, was to sign Yakubu. A player, of questionable age, that he has given the grand total of 328 league minutes to in the three months we've been paying him. For a return of zero league goals.

Since then he's brought in Appiah, who's played 97 minutes of league football and also scored zero league goals. He's loaned out Dominic Samuel who went on to get six goals for Coventry before falling foul of another nasty injury.

But "Clarke's only had the notoriously difficult January transfer window and very little money to make signings though!” I hear you cry. “He's going to rebuild the squad this summer and sort out our problems!”

Well the first part of that is definitely true. Although he was able to put together deals for promising young quality in the form of Chalobah and Ake from Chelsea whilst he's been here.

So lets have a look at Clarke's record with attackers in the transfer market previously. Is there anything to suggest he knows what he's doing when it comes to bringing in new attackers?

Well Romelu Lukaku obviously sticks out, but I think it's unlikely Chelsea are going to loan us someone of his quality, especially seeing as Clarke's had four months without managing it already. Bamford, for example, seems unlikely to be sent to us to develop further given his performance at Middlesbrough.

Other than that it's Rosenberg, Anelka, Vydra and Anichebe. From what I can find at least.

Rosenberg – didn't score in 33 appearances
Anelka – didn't score in 7 appearances
Vydra – 3 goals in 25 appearances
Anichebe – 1 goal in 11 appearances

Well, er... that doesn't bode well. I didn't actually know what I was going to find when I posed that question. I didn't think it would be that bad though.

Will Clarke actually have that much money to make the changes necessary?
Okay, so we've shifted Drenthe and Guthrie. Yes, we can lose Kelly and Andersen. And either cut the wages of Pearce, Karacan and Federici or lose them too.

But our parachute payments drop significantly next season too. And how many of you would have any of those last five high in your 'want to move on list'? I know mine features Pogrebnyak, Blackman, Akpan and Robson-Kanu far more prominently. All here for another year courtesy of Zingaravich Financial Disasters Ltd.

Assuming someone isn't crazy enough to offer them a better deal.
What are Leeds up to at the moment? QPR like over-expensive wasters don't they?

So basically, money is unlikely to be available to pay for top class Championship strikers and wingers. (Please let the changes to FFP mean I'm wrong about this!)

Finally, two of our bright lights under Adkins at the start of the season have gone back faster than a stunt man on a wire under Clarke. He's already sold Cox once (at West Brom). He doesn't seem to fancy midfielders who can (sometimes) make creative passes - Norwood. And this also bodes badly for Aaron Kuhl, one of the major talents from the Academy.

Maybe I'm suffering more than I realise from a Wembley hangover. But I just can't see any good news on the horizon. → Yay, we've survived a relegation no one really expected to happen anyway!

Oh shit, what about next season without the abject Wigan, Millwall and Blackpool.

Er...Rotherham...Chesterfield if the win the play offs maybe ... er... Help!?!

Someone, anyone, please give me some genuine reasons to think something good might actually happen.

A good post and I was planning something similar.

It's one thing galvanising a team for a game at Wembley and entirely another to build a team ready to win a 46 game season. Clarke is embarrassing, idiots like most on here are blinded by the FA cup.

If we keep him we will waste a whole pre season and whatever budget we have. It's harsh but get rid now. People get wrapped up in this "give the new manager time" shit. Truth is, if he was any kind of motivator/manager, he would get this squad picking up points along the road by now.

I thing Hammond has influence and at the moment he and SJM are the biggest friends we have....They will surely see sense?

[Man Friday]

Adkins was about as far away from "the perfect fit" as you can get. He gave up on the young players that he had been using at the start of the season as soon as more experienced players came back from injury.

That's only reasonable - although you're overlooking Hector and Obita, and arguably Cooper. Playing Kuhl ahead of Williams would have been dangerous and delusional, but he played Kuhl ahead of AKpan. His style of play fits with Dolan's philosophy for our development sides. Clarke has bought in players who are no more experienced on loan to play ahead of our own players, with no noticeable benefit in terms of results.

The first thing Clarke said at the last Fans Forum was that he wanted to make people proud of Reading Football Club again and that he would be doing all he could to make that happen. That was genuine and certainly didn't sound like it was from someone who views Reading as a mere stepping stone.

By now I've learned not to trust what managers say and instead judge them on what they actually do. Our recent managers have been worse than politicians in that regard, except possibly Coppell.

Why, what did McD ay that was a lie?

Admittedly he didn't say "I've just won the Championship and been given only £2.5m to keep the club in the PL (which I'm just about doing)" but he could hardly say that, could he?

[Man Friday]

Judging the league form under SC is a bit daft when it's damn clear that we prioritised the cup.

We threw Huddersfield and Watford

After Adkins had us slaughtered 6-1 at Birmingham, we were a relegation side in waiting. SC came in a few days later and you could see immediately the SC effect when we unluckily lost 0-1 to Watford, a VERY good side. Personally, I lay that defeat at Adkins, door, not SC's, or you take it out as not down to one manager (but to expect SC to turn round a horrendously under-par, demoralised side in two days is plain stupidity.

THEN LOOK

2-2 Brighton away (leading until the last few minutes)
2-1 Norwich home
1-0 Huddersfield (Cup) classic negative away team who pinch a goal
0-0 Middlesborough home
1-2 Fulham away We played really well, should have won comfortably, suckered by a late goal
2-1 Cardiff away (cup)
0-0 Millwall (away) where we did everything but score
2-1 Wolves (away)

4 wins 3 draws and a last minute defeat, 10-7, and that's in the six weeks following the 6-1 hammering and 0-1.

That's the mark of a magician!

Now extend that just a little (including two home losses)

0-2 Leeds Home
2-1 Derby away (Cup)
0-1 Wigan home
1-0 Ipswich away

So in his first 12 games Clarke was up against 6 of the top 8 W4, D1 L1 7-4

or

in 11 games (excluding Watford) he played 5 of the top 8, W4, D1 L0 7-3

1 Watford 0-1
3 Middlesborough 0-0
4 Norwich 2-1
5 Derby 2-1
6 Ipswich 1-0
8 Wolves 2-1

You'd have to be a brain-dead numpty from East Anglia not to see what Clarke was capable of, so why did it "go wrong"?

IMO it didn't.

SC had Bradford on his mind and sent a seriously weakened side to Huddersfield which included Kelly, Akpan, Taylor, GUTHRIE, Yakubu.

It was obvious he was prepared to lose the game, but in fact we had 59% possession and 9 shots. We all knew that the Bradford game was the biggest thing on the club's mind, and there were threads already on "Would you take Wembley with relegation?"

We lost that mainly because their strikers took their chances and we missed all of ours.

Remember the next game, home to Norwich? We were beaten by two "worldies" and a good striker's goal (just one of those games). We had 58% possession and 11 shots to their 12. The difference AGAIN was they took their chances, we didn't.

Bradford loomed ever-closer but now we had had two defeats... But then we went away to Bolton (who had been excellent at home) had 48% possession, 14 shots (but just two on target) but got the draw (again coming from behind)

Then we got the vital 0-0 at Bradford.

The rest is history (exactly what we expected)... the cup was everything and we were 99% certain to stay up, especially as we beat the biggest team in the division (Brighton) 2-1

Now seriously LOOK at the team we sent to Watford.

Reading: Andersen, Keown, Travner, Cooper, Knight (Novakovich 86), Guthrie, Akpan, Taylor (Karacan 61), Stacey, Cox (c) (Blackman 61), Yakubu. Subs: Lincoln, Long, Kuhl, Edwards.

That is a team almost bad enough to get us fined. How can anyone seriously think that defeat, or the one at Huddersfield is statistically relevant? Please!

Then we got the 3-0 win v Bradford

All I can see is that the manager proved what he was capable of, beating four teams from the top 8, then he rested players and masterminded a safe 0-0 at a very dangerous ground before achieving a 3-0 home win and our first ever wembley FA Cup Semi-Final


And, let's be utterly fair, we played a side which had won 23 out of its last 28 games (now 24/29) with a 43 million pound World Cup-winning midfielder, and we were tactically SUPERB, drawing 1-1 at 90 minutes when everyone on this list thought 0-3 would be honourable.

Steve Clarke is a VERY good manager. He has done more or less exactly what we wanted. He has shown us that away from home he knows how to win. He has shown serious tactical nous. He has used his connections to bring in two players who are better than anything in the current squad, and is forging relationships with Premiership clubs which augur well for the future.

No matter how you dress it up, Steve Clarke's record at Reading has been poor. Personally I think that he is a good manager and that under him we'll do well but the facts (I.e. the league results under him) don't point to that no matter what spin you put on it. The only good thing I'll say about his record at Reading so far is that we've yet to be stuffed by any team (I think the most we'v elost by so far is just 2 goals) and in most games we've dominated possession (not that the latter has helped us). Under Adkins we were constantly being out-played and received a few tonkings.

As I say, I THINK he's a good manager but results certainly do not support that belief. And ultimately it's all about results.

[Reading4eva]

I think Everton will have something to say about Lukaku being loaned to us from Chelsea

[3points]

think we'll have a lot of Championship journey men in the squad next year, and a load of "never heard of" overseas players. Not expecting a lot of exciting football next year, but expect us to be hard to beat and looking at a solid mid-table finish

[Christof]

Nothing Reading FC, nor anything football "worries" me.

Poor use of the word " worried " tbh.

Disappointing that the OP didn't go with Reasons To Be Fearful: SC...

[paultheroyal]

Judging the league form under SC is a bit daft when it's damn clear that we prioritised the cup.

We threw Huddersfield and Watford

After Adkins had us slaughtered 6-1 at Birmingham, we were a relegation side in waiting. SC came in a few days later and you could see immediately the SC effect when we unluckily lost 0-1 to Watford, a VERY good side. Personally, I lay that defeat at Adkins, door, not SC's, or you take it out as not down to one manager (but to expect SC to turn round a horrendously under-par, demoralised side in two days is plain stupidity.

THEN LOOK

2-2 Brighton away (leading until the last few minutes)
2-1 Norwich home
1-0 Huddersfield (Cup) classic negative away team who pinch a goal
0-0 Middlesborough home
1-2 Fulham away We played really well, should have won comfortably, suckered by a late goal
2-1 Cardiff away (cup)
0-0 Millwall (away) where we did everything but score
2-1 Wolves (away)

4 wins 3 draws and a last minute defeat, 10-7, and that's in the six weeks following the 6-1 hammering and 0-1.

That's the mark of a magician!

Now extend that just a little (including two home losses)

0-2 Leeds Home
2-1 Derby away (Cup)
0-1 Wigan home
1-0 Ipswich away

So in his first 12 games Clarke was up against 6 of the top 8 W4, D1 L1 7-4

or

in 11 games (excluding Watford) he played 5 of the top 8, W4, D1 L0 7-3

1 Watford 0-1
3 Middlesborough 0-0
4 Norwich 2-1
5 Derby 2-1
6 Ipswich 1-0
8 Wolves 2-1

You'd have to be a brain-dead numpty from East Anglia not to see what Clarke was capable of, so why did it "go wrong"?

IMO it didn't.

SC had Bradford on his mind and sent a seriously weakened side to Huddersfield which included Kelly, Akpan, Taylor, GUTHRIE, Yakubu.

It was obvious he was prepared to lose the game, but in fact we had 59% possession and 9 shots. We all knew that the Bradford game was the biggest thing on the club's mind, and there were threads already on "Would you take Wembley with relegation?"

We lost that mainly because their strikers took their chances and we missed all of ours.

Remember the next game, home to Norwich? We were beaten by two "worldies" and a good striker's goal (just one of those games). We had 58% possession and 11 shots to their 12. The difference AGAIN was they took their chances, we didn't.

Bradford loomed ever-closer but now we had had two defeats... But then we went away to Bolton (who had been excellent at home) had 48% possession, 14 shots (but just two on target) but got the draw (again coming from behind)

Then we got the vital 0-0 at Bradford.

The rest is history (exactly what we expected)... the cup was everything and we were 99% certain to stay up, especially as we beat the biggest team in the division (Brighton) 2-1

Now seriously LOOK at the team we sent to Watford.

Reading: Andersen, Keown, Travner, Cooper, Knight (Novakovich 86), Guthrie, Akpan, Taylor (Karacan 61), Stacey, Cox (c) (Blackman 61), Yakubu. Subs: Lincoln, Long, Kuhl, Edwards.

That is a team almost bad enough to get us fined. How can anyone seriously think that defeat, or the one at Huddersfield is statistically relevant? Please!

Then we got the 3-0 win v Bradford

All I can see is that the manager proved what he was capable of, beating four teams from the top 8, then he rested players and masterminded a safe 0-0 at a very dangerous ground before achieving a 3-0 home win and our first ever wembley FA Cup Semi-Final


And, let's be utterly fair, we played a side which had won 23 out of its last 28 games (now 24/29) with a 43 million pound World Cup-winning midfielder, and we were tactically SUPERB, drawing 1-1 at 90 minutes when everyone on this list thought 0-3 would be honourable.

Steve Clarke is a VERY good manager. He has done more or less exactly what we wanted. He has shown us that away from home he knows how to win. He has shown serious tactical nous. He has used his connections to bring in two players who are better than anything in the current squad, and is forging relationships with Premiership clubs which augur well for the future.

A lot of effort has gone into this post which should be recognised and I have to say snowball speaks a lot of sense here and I for one am now optimistic about next season.

Clarke clearly will be here next season. The club can then forget about the Adkins era, new identity and new fresh feel to the club with a more potent attacking instinct.

I just ask one thing of Steve Clarke.... No tinkering!! No fancy formations or 4-5-1 at home. Let opposition worry about us and not to adjust to them all the time.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I think a lot of the tinkering is pure desperation to try and muster a result. They say doing the same thing over & over is insanity don't they?

This group of players needs to be culled asap. They have got used to losing and just accepting it. I really cannot agree with people saying Clarke has done worse than Adkins. I just don't agree. For me the performances have been a lot better.

[Ian Royal]

I think a lot of the tinkering is pure desperation to try and muster a result. They say doing the same thing over & over is insanity don't they?

This group of players needs to be culled asap. They have got used to losing and just accepting it. I really cannot agree with people saying Clarke has done worse than Adkins. I just don't agree. For me the performances have been a lot better.

But you don't disagree results are worse do you? Which is what people have actually said.

I don't for a second believe performances been a lot better, but I can accept a preference for ' toothless and conceding less' over 'can score but falls apart frequently'.